FCBARCELONA.CAT

07.05.2010 23:25

Olympiakos into final (80-83)

Jordi Clos

Regal FC Barcelona will face Olympiakos in the Euroleague Final on Sunday after the Greek team saw off Partizan 80-83 in overtime in the second semi-final.

Sunday will see a repetition of 1997’s final, when Olympiakos won 73-58, with the Barca players determined to get revenge for that defeat and take the title. Olympiakos reached the final with a thrilling OT win over Partizan in Paris.

Fierce start

Partizan shook Olympiakos with a fierce start that saw them race to a 10-2 lead by the fourth minute thanks to some inspired play from Mc Alebb. Papaloukas came on for the Greeks and the game changed as he helped pull his team back to go in just 17-15 down at the end of the first quarter, which they turned round to make it 28-33 at the half time break.

Fouls slow game down

It was close in the second half, with the game slowed down by a stream of fouls. Kleiza led the Greeks and ended the game with 19 points, whilst Partizan, despite losing Mc Alebb for a while with an injury on 29 minutes, clawed their way back to 52-52 at the end of the third quarter.

OT

Things looked bad for Olymiakos as Partizan took a 58-54 lead on 32 minutes, but Childress pulled them back to 62-63 on 38 minutes. In a thrilling end to the quarter, McAlebb made it 67-65 with a counter attack when there were just 6 seconds left on the clock, before Childress took the game into overtime with a last gasp put-back dunk.

The excitement didn’t let up in the five minutes of overtime. Olympiakos dominated, but were only 75-77 up with just 40 seconds left, but some excellent defensive rebounds form ex-Barca man Bourossis and some accurate throwing in attack gave Olympiakos the win, though not before Partizan had just missed their last attempt at a three pointer which would have taken the game into a second overtime period.